A woman died in her dentist's parking lot after getting 16 teeth removed. April Walters, 46, was meant to lose 18 teeth at Southfield Dental Care in Michigan on Friday due to an infection. But the mother-of-one was told towards the end of the procedure that her heart rate was alarmingly high - a staggering 130 bpm.
The dentist, Dr Rana Rabban, told Walters' sister Crystal to take her to the hospital. However, when they got to Crystal's car April said she could not breathe and passed out. She was later declared dead in hospital. Walters relies on an oxygen tank due to a number of respiratory and blood conditions, including diabetes, a pulmonary disease, and sarcoidosis - a condition when inflamed cells affect breathing.
Nonetheless, her family insist she was coping with her conditions, which were not life-threatening.
'I just couldn't understand how she walked out happy and fine and just died all of a sudden,' Walters' daughter Amber Waddell said in an interview with Fox 5 News.
Crystal described the ordeal to Fox.
'Her heart rate was still 130, the dentist came in, ready to do the procedure,' Crystal told the network.
'The dental assistant said, "I am waiting for her heart rate to come down". The dentist said, "we're fine" and the procedure starts.'
After pulling 16 teeth, she says, the dentist voiced concern.
'She was talking to April, she said, "I think you need to go to the doctor and get your heart checked on",' Crystal described.
Worried, April and her sister Crystal made their way to the car, with Crystal carrying April's oxygen tanks. But once April was in the back seat she said she couldn't breathe. Crystal rushed for help. She claims staff came to the car but did not perform CPR.
'They were just rubbing her chest,' Crystal said.
'When the dentist came out she started yelling, "I told you to take her to the hospital" so I yelled back at her, "I have to get her in the car in order for that to happen".'
An ambulance was called to take April to hospital where she later died. The family has demanded an explanation from the dentist as they await the results of a post-mortem examination. A representative of Southfield Dental Care told Fox: 'We feel deeply for what happened. Our thoughts go out to them. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.'
Dr Rana Rabban has not commented on the incident. The family has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for April's funeral and burial.
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